About

My name is Courtney Osborn. Yes, that’s right, I am a guy named Courtney and my last name is a variation of Ozzy Osbourne’s last name. No, we’re not related, and yes, I like my first name.

Education

I graduated from The University of Kansas in May 2015 with a degree in History. Before attending KU, I graduated from Independence Community College where I briefly flirted with the idea of majoring in Computer Science before switching to general studies.

Work

Since graduating from KU, I started working at a local supercomputer company. We build and sell servers and supercomputers based on x86 architecture. It’s really complicated stuff, and can be fun from time to time.

Game’s Industry

While attending KU, I started the website Middle of Nowhere Gaming in 2013 as a local KU gaming podcast. I quickly became ambitious and decided to make it into a full-blown games media outlet. Over the next two years I spent ALL of my free time dedicated to growing the website into a fun and respectable site. In May 2015, right around graduation from KU, I realized that I had lost my passion for running a games media site and decided to leave. Middle of Nowhere Gaming is still a fully functioning site with a talented writing staff, and I enjoy reading what they have to say to this day.

What kind of game are you making?

The plan is to start with a traditional RPG/JRPG. Random and player-triggered turn based battles, a cool story, and lots of customization for weapons/armor/magic. That’s the idea right now at least. This is all open for change in the future since I am still at the beginning of this project.

That being said, I am not limiting myself to only making RPGs in the future. It will depend on how this project goes, what comes up in the meantime and/or after the project.

Before I get to working on my first actual game, I am going to be teaching myself how to make them by taking online classes, watching tutorial videos, making small practice games, etc.

Why are you making a game?

Long story short: I am bored.

I’ve enjoyed playing games my entire life. I’ve also enjoyed creating things my entire life. I started a few funny video “companies” with friends back in high school, I started Middle of Nowhere Gaming in college, and I’ve done a lot of other design work in other fields as well. The job I am currently working at is not what I want to do for the rest of my life, and I’d like to see if I could make designing/making games a career.

What are you making it with?

As of right now, I am using RPG Maker MV. I weighed my options by posing questions to other indie developers on Reddit and Twitter, and decided it was best I start with RPG Maker MV over other game engines because of its accessibility.

The long-term goal is to learn to code C# and/or other languages so I can use engines like Unity, CryEngine, Unreal Engine, etc. But being as I don’t know those languages right now, or ANYTHING about game development, I wanted to start on an easier tier.

So for now, I will be working with RPG Maker MV, while still actively learning about other languages and programs so that I can eventually use those too.